On the Topic of Finding Your Passion…Grrr!

For years I struggled with figuring out what I wanted to really do for a living. I knew it wasn’t what I had been doing, but I didn’t know what I wanted instead. So I absolutely hated, HATED the question, “What’s your passion?” Honestly, I didn’t really feel I had one. 

I didn’t even really feel I had hobbies in which I was that terribly interested. Is sitting on a beach a hobby? I loved doing that. Did I think I could make a living do it? Well NY lifeguards do get a pension, I hear… but no. (And yes, for the record, I do recognize lifeguards do more than sit on a beach. Respect.)

So a couple things. There are plenty of articles that will tell you that following your passion isn’t necessarily a smart thing, if your passion can’t pay the bills. I don’t disagree, but this isn’t that article. 

What this is instead? Permission to give yourself a damn break. Because you are not aware of what you most want to do does not mean you are passionless. 

It may actually mean you haven’t yet realized the thing you most suffer with can, in fact, be the thing you are most passionate about. Whaaaaaa? 

I actually did not realize this until AFTER I started my 2nd career as a coach. But what I struggled with for so long, my complete inability to figure out what I wanted to do with my career, and my deep knowing that I was meant for something else….IS THE THING I now absolutely love helping people get through. Because I get the suffering, and I get when people tell you that you’ve already devoted 20 years to a career and you’ve been successful so you may as well just keep doing it… 

No way. 

The point here is, instead of suppressing that thing you really struggled with as a kid, in school, as an adult, to this day? That same thing could be a major clue into who you most want to help. Maybe it’s time to embrace it. 

This is your Friday afternoon food for thought. 

I’d love to hear stories about how your struggle became your passion.

Want to dig deeper? Schedule a consult here: https://www.christineoneillcoaching.as.me/conversation

Photo by Tadeusz Lakota on Unsplash